after decades of speculation, name calling and one thing and another, it looks like the big 2 in Ossett are going to join up, presumably before the start of next season.

I would hope the new club will be called Ossett United, I would be less than impressed with AFC Ossett or FC Ossett or Real Ossett or any other continental rubbish.

I don't know why it's been announced now while negotiations are ongoing, perhaps the media found out and were going to leak it.

Obviously there are issues with the grounds, which one to use and so on. Will the new club be based at Dimples Wells? if so, that means Ingfield gets sold, in which case, sold to who? the good burghers of Ossett got very uppity about the proposed sale of Ingfield to Tesco a few years back. If the new club use Ingfield, what happens to the Albion ground? I seem to recall it's on a 99 year lease from the cricket club and that was negotiated only in the last few years.

If Ingfield does get sold, what happens to the money? will the members get a share or will it all go the new club? I've not been a member for years and I know there were some changes to the rules after I left so I don't know what the rules are now.

I saw a tweet on the official club site saying the juniors are separate from the senior club, which is why they are not included in the new club merger. One way of looking at that is if the new club fails for whatever reason, the juniors could probably revive the Ossett Town name at some point in the future. I'm sure there's all sorts of legalities about that and everything else.

If the new club does start next season, I wish it all the best. There will be folk at both clubs not happy about this but it's going to happen by the looks of things so for the critics, you've got a choice, either get behind the new club or just accept you're going to spend Saturday afternoons shopping in Wakefield. No point complaining about it and certainly don't be complaining about it to me when you see me in the co-op on a Saturday morning.

_________________war is when your Government tells you who the enemy is, revolution is when you work out who the enemy is.

I've read the report in the non league newspaper, the Ossett Town members voted 34-6 last Wednesday to support the merger. Everything needs to be in place by March 31st to meet the FA deadlines but the FA and the NPL are supportive of the merger.

I hope they use Ossett United as the name, there was a club in the 1970's who had that name, but I think they shut down long ago, West Riding FA should be able to confirm that, they usually approve the names of clubs. Club colours are easy enough, just think Partick Thistle, red & old gold stripes. Badge should stay the Ossett Town badge as that is actually the Borough of Ossett badge, Ossett Town had permission from the Borough of Ossett to use it from the early days of the club.

There will be all sorts of legal issues to sort out, but the FA and NPL have plenty of experience of that so they can advise both clubs on what to do.

When mergers take place, the new club tend to take the place of the higher placed club. So if Albion finish in the relegation zone at the end of this season, "Ossett United" will probably take Ossett Town's place in NPL Division 1 North (that's if we don't make a late dash for the play offs ).

Naturally people are going to be upset or disappointed about what is happening, but we can do without the unseemly squabble that occurred today on twitter. That does not help anyone. Everyone at both clubs need to show a united front to make sure the new club gets off to good start, because you can be sure there will be some real opposition to what is going on from people outside football, especially if the plans involve selling Ingfield, though hopefully the new club will get support from Wakefield Council to ensure all necessary planning permissions go through. I seem to recall the Council were very keen on the Tesco's sale 12 years ago and I'm sure they would back any sensible plan to redevelop Ingfield if that is the way it is going to go.

And there endeth the lesson, amen

_________________war is when your Government tells you who the enemy is, revolution is when you work out who the enemy is.

the season ticket offer extends to supporters of both clubs, Town get free admission to Albion, and vice versa. A nice gesture but I suspect not many will take up the offer as by the nature of things, season ticket holders tend to be the ones who also go to all the away games.

For those of you may be wanting to see both clubs at home before the impending marriage, here's a list of fixtures I've taken from both clubs websites.

this will be Ossett Town's last scheduled match, as things stand at the moment.

I'm sure all the programme dealers will be out in force for the last home matches, last ever programmes (like first ever programmes) are a niche market for programme collectors and dealers do bump up the prices in their catalogues for these games.

_________________war is when your Government tells you who the enemy is, revolution is when you work out who the enemy is.

Do you know if the club has been advised, whether a merged club would be relegated ‘if Ossett Albion finish bottom of the NPL1N? I see Albion’s results have picked up lately & this looks unlikely. The reason I ask, is that the F.A.’s rules are that a merged club will be placed in the lower placed clubs league. This is after promotion & relegation issues have been sorted.

Do you know if the club has been advised, whether a merged club would be relegated ‘if Ossett Albion finish bottom of the NPL1N? I see Albion’s results have picked up lately & this looks unlikely. The reason I ask, is that the F.A.’s rules are that a merged club will be placed in the lower placed clubs league. This is after promotion & relegation issues have been sorted.

some one raised this issue a few weeks ago on another thread, I said then I thought it was the higher placed club that would dictate which league a new club would play, I based that on the examples of Hinckley United and Rushden & Diamonds, but those examples were 20-25 years ago and without doing any research, I would have to take your word for it if the FA have decided that a new club would take the place of the lower placed club.

It's certainly looking like Ossett Albion could escape the relegation zone, the Ossett United formation seems to have given them some impetus, with wins against Hyde United and today at Mossley.

_________________war is when your Government tells you who the enemy is, revolution is when you work out who the enemy is.

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